HamCo drug deaths have doubled in 5 years. Here’s how a new opioid treatment plan may help

Opioid addiction is a staggering problem in Indiana, affecting 1 in 20 Hoosiers or nearly 300,000 people. The IndyStar is partnering with the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation on a yearlong reporting series to raise awareness of the opioid epidemic.
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With Hamilton County drug overdose deaths more than doubling in five years, health officials aim to expand an emergency opioid treatment program that has shown early promise to save livesby providing follow-up care to those who survive.

Nearly $600,000 in federal and state grants will pay to train Opioid Quick Response teams across the county. The teams will do follow-up visits within three days to people who overdosed on painkillers and were revived by paramedics with nalaxone — widely known by the brand name Narcan — which the grants also help cover. On each team will be a firefighter, police officer and a counselor who is in drug recovery that will check on the patient's well-being and help them get into treatment if it's needed.

Teams in Carmel and Westfield have already been formed, and authorities hope Fishers, Noblesville and the sheriff's office participate as well.

“The goal of the program is to get the patients into treatment,” said Monica Greer, executive director of the Hamilton County Council on Alcohol & Other Drugs.

Grants aimed at 'wraparound' services

A federal grant from the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance is for $490,343 and two state grants from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration’s Division of Mental Health and Addictions total $100,000.

Though the teams are called "emergency response," the grants are aimed mostly at prevention and treatment, what is commonly referred to as "wraparound" services.

The state grants will be used to train the teams in aftercare, and the federal grant will pay for their operation, including the purchase of Narcan, a medication that can quickly reverse overdoses. The grants will also buy prevention kits, school resource guides, pamphlets and brochures.

“They’ll be doing home visits to see if they can offer any assistance needed to people who might have otherwise fallen through the cracks," Greer said. “They can help identify if treatment is needed, getting transportation, finding housing or whatever hurdles they face.”

Another part of the strategy is to pinpoint areas where the opioid problem is worst and target attention toward them.

Quick response programs are relatively new — there are a few pilot programs in Indiana — so there isn't much information yet about their efficiency. But most are based on one of the earliest adopters, Colerain Township in Hamilton County, Ohio.

That program started in 2014, and overdoses dropped by more than 35 percent the first year, according to published reports. Greer said in the last three years in that Ohio township the quick response teams have visited 400 overdose victims and 65 percent of have sought treatment.

Opioid abuse, overdoses rising in Hamilton County

As in other parts of the country, opioid abuse and overdoses have risenin Hamilton County, where emergency officials issued 300 doses of Narcan in 2017, the most recent year in which data is available, Greer said.

Hamilton County Coroner John Chaflin said 38 people died of drug overdoses last year, up from 18 in 2014, with another three still possible pending toxicology tests that haven't come back.

“It has climbed every year,” Chaflin said.

He said most of the deaths are caused by a combination of drugs including heroin, fentanyl and other opioids.

“The average victim will have four drugs in their system,” Chaflin said.

The more frequent administration of Narcan might help keep the numbers lower, Chaflin said, but it’s not a guarantee.

“It is saving some, but others just keep going back to drugs,” he said. “We had one woman last year who had gotten Narcan 16 times before she finally died of an overdose. And some of the painkillers are just too strong.”

'We want to get out in front of it'

In Carmel, the quick response teams are still in the planning stage of their rollout, said fire department spokesman Tim Griffin.

“We hope to be going out on runs in the next couple of months,” Griffin said.

He said though opioid overdoses have increased over the last five years in Carmel, they are still below the national average. The quick response team will offer a chance to catch the problem before it becomes common locally.

“We want to get out in front of it, be more preemptive” Griffin said.

In that way, it is similar to what the fire department does in fire prevention.

“We go into schools and educate, we inspect homes and businesses and help them get smoke alarms,” Griffin said.

The city already has a “mobile integrated health care" plan in which it identifies people most in need of immediate or long-term services based on the number of calls they've made to 911.

The Hamilton County Jail has also taken steps to assist overdose victims who land there.

The jail provides medical counseling for people who seek help and offers doses of Vivitrol, which blocks cravings for drugs, upon their release, said Byran Orem, a jail spokesman.

“Several church groups, AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), and other types of organizations regularly visit the jail to provide assistance,” Orem said. In addition, jail chaplains offer help in getting people into counseling.

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Follow on Twitter and Facebook.